Blogs

Our blogs provide fresh, impassioned and authoritative commentary and insight about the variety of civil-liberties issues that the ACLU of Michigan takes up each day in our courts, governments and communities.

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With the help of dedicated volunteers and community activists, the ACLU of Michigan works to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the individual rights and liberties that are guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

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The ACLU of Michigan is one of more than 50 affiliates in the United States. As such, we encourage you to know as much as possible about your civil liberties. Further, if you feel those liberties have been violated, we suggest you submit a complaint. We only accept complaints that occur within the State of Michigan. If your complaint arose in a state other than Michigan, you must contact the ACLU office in that state.

About Us

Since our founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has led the fight to conserve our most precious liberties. Through the passion of our supporters, we have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 active members and supporters with 54 state affiliate offices as well as a legislative office in Washington, DC.

Search & Seizure

The Fourth Amendment protects against unlawful searches and seizures. Despite this, countless citizens have been subjected to searches without suspicion. The ACLU of Michigan challenges such unlawful practices by law enforcement and in schools.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan applauds the decision of U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney that holds the City of Grand Rapids responsible for permitting police officers to arrest innocent people for trespassing at local businesses during operating hours—even when business owners didn’t ask them to leave.

The court’s decision about the policy—which resulted in African Americans being stopped at more than twice the rate as whites under the initiative—comes after years of litigation brought by the ACLU.

ACLU Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Detroit Police Department

2018-08-23 00:00:00

Hostile work environment includes discrimination, retaliation against African-American officers, says 11-year veteran of city police force

DETROIT – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Detroit, the Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit Police Chief James Craig and several DPD executives and officers.

The ACLU of Michigan sent a letter to the Taylor Police Department, urging re-training and policy changes for its officers in the wake of a traffic stop last year in which an African-American motorist was snatched from his car, put in a chokehold until he claims he blacked out and then, once arrested, stripped to his underwear and left in a cold cell for hours. The letter also calls for discipline for officers involved in the incident, in which 26-year-old motorist Calvin Jones was violently arrested. His wife and underage brother-in-law were also taken into police custody.

Seven-Year-Old Handcuffed at School

2016-03-04 00:00:00

In October 2015 a “school resource officer” working in Flint handcuffed a seven-year-old student with ADHD when the student did not immediately respond to the officer’s instruction. The student was not a threat to himself or others and was handcuffed for nearly an hour solely on account of his disability-related behavior. In March 2016 the ACLU wrote a letter on behalf of the family seeking wholesale policy changes to ensure that no more children are handcuffed at school. We are continuing to work with Flint in an attempt to resolve the matter.

Police Taking Photograph and Fingerprints Without Probable Cause

2018-07-30 00:00:00

Keyon Harrison, an African American 16-year-old, was walking home from school when he saw another youth with a model truck and paused to look at it. Grand Rapids police, who later claimed that two youth looking at a toy truck is so suspicious that it justifies a police investigation, stopped Keyon, took his picture, and fingerprinted him. Even though Keyon did nothing more than admire a toy, his picture and fingerprints are now in a police database.

Knock and Talk

2017-06-01 00:00:00

When the police don’t have enough evidence to get a search warrant, they sometimes employ a procedure they have nicknamed “knock and talk” to investigate further. Courts have ruled that a police officer has the same right as an everyday citizen (for example, a Girl Scout selling cookies) to visit your house, knock on your front door, and ask to speak with you. Unfortunately, abuses of the “knock and talk” technique are now rampant.

Daily Searches at Public School

2016-09-05 00:00:00

In July 2016 a 13-year-old student was forced to withdraw from a summer school program run by a public school district because he did not consent to a daily pat-down frisk and a search of his backpack. The teenager’s father had recently passed away, and his mother was unable to locate a firearm that had been legally owned and registered in the father’s name. Although there was no evidence that their son had taken the gun or posed any danger to the school, school administrators insisted on searching the 13-year-old as a condition of his entering the school building each morning.

ACLU, Mackinac Center Applaud New Forfeiture Bill But Call on State to Require Conviction

2017-01-06 00:00:00

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy and ACLU of Michigan applaud the state’s new law protecting the rights of citizens facing civil forfeiture.

The Michigan House and Senate passed House Bill 4629, and Gov. Snyder signed it this week. The law eliminates a bond requirement for property seized by law enforcement, which required those whose property was seized by the police to pay 10 percent of the value of their property just to challenge the forfeiture in court. Michigan was one of only five states with that type of requirement.

Border Patrol Sued Over Warrantless Searches in Michigan

WASHINGTON – A watchdog group is suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection in federal court in Detroit to find out if government agents are racially profiling American citizens and foreigners legally in the U.S. under a law that allows for warrantless searches across Michigan to combat illegal immigration.

Living As An Immigrant in Michigan

2016-11-30 00:00:00

Coming from a migrant, farmworker family meant, I spent half the year in Florida and half the year in Michigan. We were nomads traveling in our wood-paneled station wagon up and down Interstate 75 in the late spring and mid fall every year from the time I was 4 years old until we settled in Michigan in the fall of 1987 when I was 15.